​Discovery is about to launch its 26th year of Shark Week, a period in the middle of the summer when people prefer to be inside watching footage of the ocean rather than visiting it.

For this year, Discovery has made a conscious decision to make social and digital the forefront of Shark Week. The week’s programming has 11 new specials in store, and a new late-night Shark Week talk show (“Shark After Dark”), and the network wants to show it off, with Google+, GetGlue, Twitter and more.

Shark Week was off to a successful start weeks ago when it debuted a promo featuring Snuffy the Seal, who has since become a Twitter and Facebook phenomenon:

Now as the week is about to get underway, Discovery is leaning heavily on viewers’ tendency to post non-stop all week about shark-related programming anyway. With its live on-air “Twitter frenzy,” Shark Week is doubling last year’s commitment to 10 hours of programming featuring fan tweets live on air. National Aquarium is partnering with Shark Week on an underwater Google+ Hangout as well, even allowing one Twitter fan to help host the Hangout.

Shark Week is not just on the living room screen, either. Two iPad apps are getting fans even more into the shark mood. Shark Week Plus is a simultaneous viewing app for iPads highlighting extra information, photos and social content. Ultimate Sharks App is an interactive-based app that allows you to swim with the sharks while watching programming on TV.

Discovery will also launch its “Great White Triangle” webisode, an underwater 360-degree dive in “Subaquatic Road Trip” and an interactive Shark Finder map.

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